"I Am Legend" movie trailer

I really, really, really want to see this movie. It looks as if they've done a decent job of sticking with the original story, and Will Smith can act when the directors is right.

No. 46 -- Red Prophet

by Orson Scott Card

Started: December 4
Finished: December 11

Notes: Because I am a glutton for punishment, and an idiot, I have agreed to read this book. Even though it's the sequel to the worst book I've read this year. A certain person promises me this book is much better. I didn't believe her, but then even the blurbs on the book say it's much better. I'll give it a shot. What's a week or two of my life?

Mini review: This book is a much better novel than the first one in this series, but I'm still glad to be done with it. I'm thinking Card isn't going to be one of my favorite authors. Still, Tecumseh shows up in this book and is a major character. If you don't know who Tecumseh is, find out here. Usually when Tecumseh shows up, lots of white people die. Which is always fun! Right, kids?

Book review for "99 Coffins"

My latest book review, for "99 Coffins" by David Wellington, is up at Apex Online. Enjoy!

Never Call Me At Work

Viking Prayer from "The 13th Warrior"

It's not well known, but I love this movie. Had to share a clip.

I thought I'd have to hang myself

I have this short story I wrote in the summer. I think it's the best short story I've written in a long time. Then I moved. Again. Second time this year.

Since moving into our new place, the last few weeks, I've been rummaging through boxes and bags and stuff looking for a series of CDs I had burnt. See, I write on a Mac, but do all my Internet business on a PC, so I often have to burn CDs and transfer stuff between.

So, this story, it's not on my PC. Nowhere. I searched online in my e-mail files and a few other places. No story.

Back to the burnt CDs. I haven't been able to find them. No matter where I've looked. They are not in any of the places they should be.

I e-mailed a copy to a certain editor a while back, and I've been considering contacting him to see if he still had a copy of this story somewhere. But honestly, I was kind of embarassed to do so.

Of course the story should still be on my writing Mac. But that Mac hasn't been started up in almost five months.

Tonight I took the plunge. I plugged in the Mac, turned it on ...

... and listened to it whine for a reaaaaalllly long time.

Then, just as hope was lost, it kicked on. But it kept whining. Eventually I figured out the whine was from a CD I had left in the thing.

And ... wallah! ... there was my story! Right on the ole hard drive.

I immediately burnt off three new DVDs and transferred a copy of the story to my PC. Now I'll have to e-mail myself a copy or two and place it in a file or three on a few other places online.

Sheesh!

I think I did a good thing this week

There's an older gentleman, a copy editor near retirement age, I work with at my part-time newspaper job. He and I got to talking a while back, and he informed me he had written something like three novels and had had a handful of short stories published, including a few in Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Of course I told of my own interests and hopes, and he asked if I would like to take a look at a couple of his short stories.

"Sure," I said.

So, the next day he brings me a couple of Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazines from the early 1990s.

I read his stories.

One was okay. Not great, but it didn't suck, and it showed talent.

The other one ... that one I really liked, about 1930s gangsters in St. Louis.

I returned the magazines to him the next day and asked him what he was currently working on.

"Oh, nothing. I haven't written anything in 10 years."

I think my jaw dropped. I asked him why he had not written anything, and long story short, he just got fed up and disenheartened with the whole process. He had had an agent, but the agent had not been able to place any of his novels anywhere.

"How many publishers did the agent try?" I asked.

"Ten," was the answer.

"Ten! That's nothing!" I hollered in the newsroom.

So, I sat down with him and we had a little talk. This fellow is also a somewhat accomplished water color painter, so it's not as if he has no artistic outlet, but I sort of felt like it was my duty to get him back on the writing path. I hate to see anyone who's put that much work into something to give up.

I talked to him about how the Internet had made it much easier to submit to a lot of agents and publishers. I told him how there was a bit of a resurgence of hardboiled and mystery fiction, the genres he prefers. I also explained to him how, mostly through the Web, it is much easier for an author to deal with smaller publishers without having to bother with an agent.

And, most importantly (I believe), I explained that I thought he had some talent.

By the end of a half hour or so, I think I had him hooked again. Least, I hope I did.

I guess time will tell. Again, I hate to see anyone's dreams swallowed by life.

And, to tell the truth, I didn't want that to be me in another 20 or 30 years. He wrote three novels. I've written a trilogy, about the same. But even if my trilogy never sells, I will write another book. That might even be my goal for 2008, to write another book (preferably not a trilogy this time).

I think I did a good thing. I hope I did. And I hope he gets back in the biz and starts writing and submitting again.